A Trove Of Artifacts For Uconn

Game Warden's Finds To Be Used For Research

December 09, 2007|By SHAWN BEALS; Courant Staff Writer

STORRS — Louis "Louie" Bayer was one of the most feared game wardens in the state for 33 years, sniffing out and chasing down illegal hunters. His ability to track them miles into the woods earned him a legendary reputation.

Bayer, also a conservationist, tracked other things, and over the years collected about 3,000 artifacts in the fields and streams of southeastern Connecticut, including one that dates back 9,000 years. He also collected arrowheads in southeastern Connecticut while working for the state.

With the help of then-UConn graduate student Kathy Hoy, he cataloged and documented the collection before his death in 1997 at 90. He left the collection to his son, Jon Bayer, and his two grandsons, who recently donated it to the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History at the University of Connecticut.

"He thought it would be nice if it was used for research, and I think that's where it's headed under Nick [Bellantoni]," Jon Bayer said. "It was his wish that they would stay together. He wanted them to stay in the state."

Nicholas Bellantoni, the Connecticut state archaeologist at the museum and a UConn professor, said what is most remarkable about the arrowhead collection is that there is a record of where every single artifact came from, which greatly increases the research and educational value of the artifacts. He said most collections have no records at all so the value is limited.

"We're thrilled about the collection here at the Museum of Natural History," Bellantoni said.

Jon Bayer recalls the times he spent with his father looking for arrowheads in the farm fields.

"I could walk a field and hardly find anything, and he would be right behind me picking them up," he said.

Hoy heard about Louis Bayer's collection in 1989 and wanted to work with him as part of her graduate research. He was reluctant at first but Hoy was persistent, and he finally agreed to work with her.

She traveled all over to the places where Louis Bayer found the arrowheads, studying the areas and meeting the people he had known for years as a game warden.

"I drove down every dirt road in southeastern Connecticut," Hoy said.

More than once, her car got stuck and she had to dig it out, with Bayer supervising.

"I always had a shovel in the back of the car," Hoy said.

She said some of the arrowheads are not native to the state, which shows Native American trade routes. There are arrowheads from Ohio and New York that came to Connecticut with coastal trade of native groups.

Bayer also took Bellantoni on daylong tours to the places where he found the artifacts.

On one excursion, Bayer took him to a hardware store to see the owner's private collection of artifacts. The owner was someone Bayer caught hunting illegally many years earlier.

"His face went ashen when he saw Louie," Bellantoni said.

Jon Bayer said his father was well-known and respected by the local people but hated by the hunters.

"He was a character," Hoy said. "Everybody knew him. He had the best sense of humor and I loved him dearly."

The collection will be used for research and education, Bellantoni said. Right now it is being cataloged and documented so the museum can begin to use it in conjunction with state archaeology research and university education. He also hopes to use the collection as an exhibit at the newly renovated museum on the UConn campus.